Matters of Chance
by butterflydreaming
Summary: A story about teenaged Sonomi and Nadeshiko complete as one chapter


**Tsukimine Shrine Fic Challenge **(yet another one)

**Topic:** Original Character  
**Genre:** Any  
**Canon:** Optional  
**Rating:** G to PG  
**Length:** 1500 to 3000 words.  
**Time Limit:** Two weeks.  
**Special Requirements:** The character introduced must be _original_; do not re-use any of your other OCs. (What you do with this character _after_ the challenge is entirely your own business.) The character must be sympathetic, in that the reader should not hate the character.  Also, the character must have any two of the following traits: 1- Mostly, if not universally liked.  2- Pretty/Cute/Handsome.  3- Magical.   
  


I've definitely gone over the word limit!  But I couldn't do this shorter… really.

"Matters of Chance" 

                "Look, the flight came in early," said Nadeshiko, pointing out to Sonomi the "flight arrivals" screen for Japan Airlines.  "Flight 2496 from Los Angeles," she read aloud, "Gate B5.  I wonder how long she's been waiting?"

            "Well hurry up, Nadeshiko," Sonomi scolded, already several paces ahead of her cousin.  "That's a really long flight.  Kikuu's probably beat."

            "Are we supposed to go to the gate?  What if she isn't there still?" ask Nadeshiko.

            "Baggage claim," said Sonomi with authority.  "She would have to get her luggage, right?  It's just down that escalator."

            The escalator down to the baggage claim area was long and steep.  The girls pressed themselves as far as they could to the right to let some more impatient riders hurry past them on the left.  Sonomi gripped the rubber railing and scowled at the tourists.  She hated airports.  No one ever seemed to know where they were going, but they had to get there in a hurry.

            "Sonomi?" said Nadeshiko in a funny voice.  "My skirt's caught."

            "On what?"

            "It's caught in the stairs.  On that toothy part."

            Sonomi saw that it was true.  Nadeshiko was wearing a dress of light, flowing fabric with a hem that covered the girl's ankles.  The escalator had already eaten a handful of the dress's length, and Nadeshiko was playing tug-of-war with a worried smile on her face.  Sonomi added her power to her cousin's, and the girls had a few desperate moments when it looked like they were going to lose the battle.  Finally, Sonomi managed to yank the skirt free, a loss of only a few inches of lace, before they reached the bottom; she sighed in exasperation at her cousin's ability to end up in such situations.

Nadeshiko was giggled in embarrassment.  "Too bad.  I liked that lace," she said.

"It would have been a lot worse than that," said Sonomi.  "Escalators don't stop.  I would have had to tear your dress to keep you from being hurt."

            "Oh," said Nadeshiko.  She blushed.

            Sonomi wanted to blame the flowing length of her cousin's clothing, but she knew that the truth was that Nadeshiko walked around with her head in a cloud, except for when she tripped on her own feet.  Sonomi had been looking out for her cousin's well-being since they were toddlers and Nadeshiko had taken her first tumble down the long staircase at Sonomi's house; at sixteen, Nadeshiko was still a klutz -- a beautiful, lovable klutz who trusted that some divine providence was always looking out for her.

            The baggage claim area was nearly empty, although a few stragglers from a different international flight were still milling by one of the luggage carousels, struggling with maps and too many bags.  On the other side of the room, by the floor-to-ceiling windows, a teenaged girl was sitting on a small, upright suitcase, reading a book.  She was glancing up whenever she turned a page, but when Nadeshiko and Sonomi came into her view, she popped a bookmark between the pages and stood up to wave.

            "Kikuu!" Nadeshiko called out happily. Rolling her suitcase behind her on a tether, the girl trotted lightly over to Nadeshiko and caught her up in an enthusiastic hug.  She then put down her book and released her suitcase, and repeated the hug with Sonomi.  Sonomi was taken aback at first, but warmed up after a few moments of crushing affection.

            "Oh, it's been _forever_," the new girl said.  "You guys look like models!  Nade, do you even eat?"

            "She eats like a bottomless pit and _still_ looks like that," said Sonomi.  "And what about you?"

            Nadeshiko piped up.   "I like your clothes, Kikuu," she said wistfully, tugging at the other girl's pastel pink, fashionably oversized T-shirt.  "Those are Guess jeans?"

            "I brought you each a couple of pairs," the girl said.  "And Keds like mine," she added gleefully, picking up her feet and showing off the mint green canvas shoes.  "They're what everyone's wearing back home.  Oh, and I'm going by 'Chrys' now.  It's easier.  People were always asking what my name meant in Japanese, and 'Chrys' is shorter than Chrysanthemum, and saves me the explanation."

            "Chrys," said Sonomi uncertainly, trying out the unfamiliar name.

            "Well, you still look exactly the same," declared Nadeshiko, "Chrys," she added, and giggled.  "I'm so glad that you haven't cut your hair."

            Chrys had hair that fell like poured caramel past her bluejean pockets.  She wore it loose except for a pair of tortoise shell patterned combs at her temples.  She was slightly shorter than her cousin Sonomi, and darker than either of her cousins from tanning on California beaches.  "You, either," she said, with a bright smile that sparkled all the way to her coffee brown eyes.  "I wish you'd left yours long, too, Sonomi," she added.

            Sonomi's wry grimace was her reply.  "We should get moving," she said.  "Lucky chance for me that your flight came in early.  If we catch the driver sleeping, I can use it for blackmail against him."

            "What have _you_ been up to?" asked Chrys, her curiosity piqued.  She walked alongside Sonomi as the trio headed out the sliding glass doors.  Nadeshiko was a few steps ahead.

            "Nothing yet," Sonomi confessed.  "But I'm saving it up."

            "Are you seeing anyone?"

            Sonomi huffed.  "You know that Mother and Father don't allow dating."

            Chrys persisted.  "But is there someone you like?"

            Sonomi cast her American cousin an unreadable look before glancing away.  Scanning the airport road in front of their group, her expression changed suddenly to one of horror.  "Nadeshiko!" she yelled, dashing forward to stop her cousin from crossing the roadway.

            Apparently, Nadeshiko did not register the car coming toward them, much faster than the posted speed.  The girl was about to step off the curb, and turned her head back when Sonomi called out her name, but didn't stop her forward motion.  Sonomi was too far to catch Nadeshiko before the speeding car would catch the oblivious girl.  Chrys stared at the car, frozen to the oncoming trajedy.

But an unlikely possibility occurred.  The front right tire of the small car blew out, sending the sportscar spinning until it hit a cement guardpost.  Then the small car flipped over with a tremedous, bone-chilling crash, back into the road and against the parking structure opposite the baggage claim doors.

            "Shit." said Chrys, covering her mouth with both hands.

            In moments, airport security arrived with paramedics.  The driver of the car was extracted; his condition did not seem hopeful.  Chrys watched the proceedings while the girls huddled in an embrace.  Nadeshiko was shaken, and clung to Sonomi in shock.  Sonomi was crying.  Chrys was murmuring soothing words, but she sounded like her mind was elsewhere.

            When the ambulance sped away, airport security set up cones and yellow tape and started directing traffic around the accident.  The girls started moving when the gathered spectators began to disperse.  Sonomi and Chrys both carefully checked the road before their group crossed to the parking structure, walking with Nadeshiko between them; they slid into the back of  the Cadillac in the same lineup.  The driver stowed Chrys's suitcase in the car's trunk and proceeded to drive them to Sonomi's parent's home.

            "I'm sorry," said Nadeshiko quietly.

            "You have to watch where you're going!" Sonomi answered with shrill dismay.

            "I'm sorry!" Nadeshiko repeated.  There was a hitch to her voice.

            Sonomi turned to stare out her window.  Unconsciously mirroring her, Chrys did the same.  Sonomi wasn't paying attention, but she thought she heard her newly arrived cousin mumble something that sounded like "_I'm sorry, too_."

. . . 

            They arrived at the house in dismal spirits, but Chrys's aunt and uncle were oblivious to the trio's mood.  The adults spent a few minutes of courtesy asking about Chrys's parents and siblings.  Chrys's father was one of the older Amamiya brothers, senior in age to both Sonomi's father and Nadeshiko's father.  Since the older brother's move to the United States with his wife and children, he had spent very little time back in Japan with the core of the Amamiya clan.  

            Because Chrys had been born the same year as Nadeshiko and Sonomi, and was eight years younger than her next oldest sister, her parents wanted her to know her cousins.  She had visited a few times since the move, and had kept in contact with them through letters and phone calls while they were growing up.  When she had still lived in Tomoeda, she had been the shyest member of their trio, but living in America had changed her.  She laughed with her mouth uncovered and spoke in a loud, brassy voice.  It should have annoyed Sonomi, but instead Sonomi found that her cousin's manner was contageous.

After the polite small-talk was done, Sonomi led the other girls up to her room, which was on the third floor.  They walked up the long, impressive staircase; Chrys scoffed at using the discretely hidden elevator.  Nadeshiko, always brimming with enthusiasm, had recovered her good spirit, and she dashed up the steps while Chrys and Sonomi trudged behind.  

            "I never get over how big your house is," said Chrys when they finally reached the third floor.  "I mean, my family has a nice house, but yours is… palatial," she stated.  They entered Sonomi's room and Nadeshiko went right to the french doors and opened them, letting in the fresh spring air and sunshine.  "At least I don't have to worry about crowding you in your room," Chrys added.

            "Father and Mother said that you could stay in the guest room," Sonomi corrected.

            "Oh," said Chrys.  She seemed disappointed.

            "But you can sleep in my room, anyway," Sonomi offered, "if you want to."

            Chrys smiled with relief.  "If you don't mind me kicking you in my sleep, I'd rather just stay with you.  Nade, can you sleep over sometimes too?"

            Nadeshiko had wandered out onto the balcony.  "I sleep over all the time," she said.

            "We don't start school again for a few more days," Sonomi added.  "So I don't think any of our parents will mind if we make a slumber party out of it."

            Nadeshiko leaned against the balcony railing.  "You're staying for two full weeks, right?  So you can come see our school?"

            Chrys nodded.  "I have the extra week after spring break.  I don't have to be back home for school until they fix the fire damage.  It means that we have to make up the time at the end of June, but that's how things go," she said, sighing and adding oddly, "Lesson learned."  Sonomi caught the strange tone and looked curiously at her cousin, but Chrys was looking at blythe Nadeshiko, who was resting her small weight against a thin metal rail that was only hip-high.  "Hey, Nadeshiko," Chrys said nervously.  She quickly opened her suitcase and hastily began to unpack.  "Why don't you try on the shoes I brought you?"  Sonomi saw the long-haired girl relax visibly when Nadeshiko skipped back into the room.  Nadeshiko dropped down and sat with her arms around her knees while Chrys burrowed.

            "You didn't pack very much," Nadeshiko said.

            "Packed light," said Chrys simply.  "I know that if I need anything else I'll find it."

            "You have a lot of confidence in Tomoeda's shopping options," said Sonomi.

            "It will work out," the girl answered enigmatically.  "I have you two, don't I?"

. . . 

            Over the next few days, Chrys was able to learn just how accident prone her cousin Nadeshiko still was.  The three girls spent as much time together as possible, which meant almost every moment from waking until sleep, late, late into the night.  At some point in the day, Nadeshiko would inevitably find the crack in the sidewalk that would send her face-forward into the concrete, or walk into a pole when she wasn't looking in front of her, or fall down stairs that she didn't realize were there.  She always got back up with a shrug and a smile; Sonomi would shake her head and help dust her off.  Sonomi wondered if Nadeshiko was getting tougher, because she didn't seem to be getting any bruises or scrapes from these recent bouts of carelessness.  Even after the tumble down a dozen concrete stairs, Nadeshiko suffered only some dirt and a small tear to her dress.

            Chrys started the habit of walking on one side of Nadeshiko while Sonomi walked on the opposite side, so that the accident-prone girl was always flanked by her watchful cousins.  After some hesitation, Sonomi followed Chrys's example of walking with her arm linked through Nadeshiko's.  Nadeshiko glowed under the attention.  She was their princess, and she knew it.

            The girls went all over town, walking like the Tin Man, Dorothy, and the Lion.  Their yellow brick road led them frequently to the park that bordered an almost wild expanse of trees.  At twilight, when the little kids were home having dinner, they would play on the Penguin slide and on the swings until the day faded completely, and then walk back to Sonomi's house through the quiet streets, listening to the cicadas.

            On one of their excursions, while drifting slowly back and forth on the play swings, Nadeshiko said, "There are ghosts in this park, did you know that Chrys?".

            Sonomi was on the carousel, and Chrys was pushing the big metal disc so that is spun in a lazy circle.  "Nadeshiko, I wish you wouldn't start on that again," said Sonomi.

            "Really?  Have you seen any?" asked the other girl as she walked her circle.

            "Chrys, don't encourage her," Sonomi complained.

            Nadeshiko pushed off the ground and started swinging in increasing arcs.  The long metal links creaked eerily, enhancing her claim.  "I get feelings," she said.  "Like I know someone's there."

            "There's no such thing," Sonomi pouted.

            Chrys picked up her pace, increasing from a walk to a lope.  "You'd be surprized," she said, mildly breathless, "at the weirdness in this world."

            "Like magic?" asked Nadeshiko, her voice warping slightly from her rise and fall, and the breeze it was creating.

            "Like magic," Chrys agreed.  "Maybe everybody has something hidden, and like ghosts," she said with a powerful push that made the metal carousel spin ever faster, "it's just waiting to be noticed.  Once you notice it, you can make things happen."  She stood with her arms akimbo and watched Sonomi spin, with satisfaction in her smile.

            Sonomi was starting to feel giddy from the dizzy motion.  Chrys had found the right mix of intertia and speed to get the carousel really spinning.  Stars were coming out; Sonomi looked up and watched them make blurry arcs in her vision.

            Nadeshiko's yelp made her struggle for equilibrium.  She twisted and tried to focus on her delicate cousin.  Nadeshiko was on the ground, clutching her arm and making sounds of pain.  "What happened?" Sonomi cried, leaping off the spinning playground equipment.  She stumbled when she hit the sand and had to sit down hard.  Chrys was already with Nadeshiko, hovering over her and trying to get a look at Nadeshiko's arm.

            "I slipped off the swing," Nadeshiko said in a voice tight with pain.  "I think I broke my arm."

            "Maybe it's just sprained," Chrys countered in a tense voice.  "I'm sure it's not broken.  You landed on dirt.  Odds are, it's not that bad."  She sounded like she was arguing the point.

            "We'd better get home," Sonomi said.  The world was still spinning.

. . . 

            As it turned out, Chrys had been right.  It was a mild sprain after all, but the doctor had been surprized.  Nadeshiko said that she had hit with that arm straight out in front of her.  She had done the same thing coming off the monkey bars when she was eleven, and it had given her a "greenstick" fracture.

            "Bones get stronger after they heal," said Chrys.

            "It was the other arm," answered Sonomi.  But she was glad that the damage was mild.  As it was, Nadeshiko wasn't supposed to carry anything or put any pressure on her wrist.  It was going to be a problem when school started.  Or at least they thought it would be, until Chrys volunteered to carry Nadeshiko's books.

            "I can be your personal assistant," she offered brightly, while they sat in Sonomi's room.  "So the teachers don't think that I'm just there to distract you.  I can follow you around all day."

            "I feel bad," Nadeshiko said to the offer.  "We have a lot of books.  They're heavy."

            Chrys flexed a bicep showily and made a "tough" face.  "They breed us strong in the West.  It's all that milk.  I can be your bodyguard too, and keep you out of trouble."

            "She needs a bodyguard," said Sonomi, "to keep the boys away from her.  Nadeshiko's always being pestered."

            "Really?" Chrys asked.  "Are you getting bothered?" she asked with concern.

            "They're just being nice, Sonomi," Nadeshiko said.

            "If it's just flirting, that's different," said Chrys.

            Sonomi scowled.  "It's because the skirts are too short.  And Nadeshiko put hers up even further."

            "I did not!" Nadeshiko protested innocently.  "Yours is just as short!"

            "The uniforms do look kind of kinky to me," interjected Chrys.  "Even the teachers could be looking to get a flash of panty."

            "You cannot see my underwear!" Nadeshiko continued to protest.  "Hey, how come your taking Sonomi's side?"

            "I'm just saying," Chrys said mildly with a shake of her head.

            "And the tie makes your boobs look bigger," Sonomi added with a twinkle of mischief in her eyes.

            Nadeshiko just opened her mouth, speechless.  Chrys giggled.  Sonomi snorted.  Nadeshiko got up from the floor and walked over to Sonomi's closet.  She took out Sonomi's fuku, which was still in its dry cleaning bag, and walked over to her giggling cousin.  "Put it on," Nadeshiko commanded, holding the uniform straight out at Chrys.

            "Why?" squealed the girl, laughing louder.

            "Because you're making fun of me.  You'll get to see us wearing ours tomorrow, so I think we should get to see you wearing one, too."  Nadeshiko tried unsuccessfully to make a stern and threatening face.

            Chrys looked like she was going to resist further, but then changed her mind.  "Okay!" she agreed playfully while jumping to her feet.  She took the school uniform from her cousin and carefully stripped it off the hanger.  Without shyness, she pulled her lacy shirt over her head and tossed it on Sonomi's bed.

"Oh, what a cute bra!" Nadeshiko squealed.  "Look, Sonomi – it has stripes!"

            "Is that designer?" asked Sonomi incredulously.  "It looks more like a bikini top."

Chrys hurriedly buttoned up the white shirt.  "So I snuck out to Fredrick's of Hollywood!  Don't make fun of my foundations," she scolded.  "Sonomi, your waist is smaller than mine… I can't button this skirt."

            "Just zip it to the top," instructed Sonomi while Nadeshiko hovered over Chrys, straightening out the pleats on the skirt and making sure the shirt hem was straight. Nadeshiko then steered her cousin to the mirror over the vanity, and Sonomi hopped over to look also.  The three girls were reflected in the glass like a happy photograph.

            Nadeshiko put her head on Chrys's shoulder and her arm lightly on the girl's waist.  "You look like you belong here," she said wistfully.

            Sonomi put her arm, elbow bent, to rest on Chrys's other shoulder.  "I wish you had one of your own," she said with rare affection.

            Nadeshiko innocently rubbed her face against the white shirt by nodding.  "I wish you still lived here."

            "Are you kidding me?" Chrys joked to toss off the mood.  "I wouldn't wear this thing willingly!  Back home, _public school_ means you wear what you want.  This is what a stripper would wear for her 'innocent private school girl' number."

            "Chrys!" Nadeshiko scolded indignantly.  She stepped away from her embrace.

            Chrys stuck her fingers in her hair, plumping her lips and hamming for the mirror.  She turned from side to side, making the short skirt swish.  "Oh, yeah," she said in sultry  tones.  "You know you want summa this."  She strut around until the other girls were giggling again, making Sonomi laugh until her eyes were wet with tears.  

. . . 

            The girls walked into the classroom early so that Chrys could ask permission from the teacher; the teachers from Nadeshiko and Sonomi's homeroom and first-period classes had not minded the visitor's presence, but Sonomi said that their history class was going to have a new teacher for this new term.  

"It should be okay as long as he's not a power-tripper," Chrys mused.  "Whenever we've had new teachers, they're falling apart, and compensate by being crazy about rules."

            "You're always saying how different the schools are in America, though," offered Nadeshiko.

            Sonomi slid back the door for her cousins, following after them.  Nadeshiko entered first, walking in that dancing manner that she unconsciously effected, with Chrys at her shoulder, carrying the heavy bookbag, with the oversized tome against her chest.   Her smile slipped once they crossed the threshold.

            "That they are," she said airily.  Her voice dropped to an even lower whisper.  "Our teachers are _never_ that cute!"  She made a fanning motion at her face.  "Maybe I can move back."

            Sonomi looked between her cousins and at the new history teacher.  He was very young, most likely just out of college, and he _was_ cute.  His plain brown suit was clearly off-the-rack, but his hair was stylishly long.  His head was bent over a lesson plan or attendance sheet at his desk, and the hazelnut brown locks fell across his cheeks, looking slightly windblown.

            Nadeshiko was shy to approach him, but Chrys balanced the heavy book in her arms on one hip and took her cousin by the elbow.  Sonomi stayed close while the girls went up to the teacher's desk.  At the sound of their footsteps, the man looked up; the soft smile on his lips was kind and welcoming.

            "Excuse me, sensei," said the American girl straightforwardly,  "I'm not a student, but my cousin—" she indicated Nadeshiko, "has a sprained wrist, and I've been carrying her books for her.  If it's okay with you, I'd like to sit in on your class."

            The young teacher stood up from his desk and bowed politely, to which the girls bowed back.  "Kinomoto Fujitaka," he introduced himself.

            "We're all Amamiyas," Chrys volunteered.  "That's Sonomi, this is Nadeshiko, and I'm Chrys," she said.  She pointed  to the other girls.  "I'm on vacation, visiting my cousins, from the United States."

            "Oh, welcome then," said the teacher.  "Amamiya-san," he said to Nadeshiko, "I hope that your injury is not too painful."

            "No, it's nothing," said Nadeshiko shyly.

            "Kinomoto-sensei," Sonomi said helpfully, "our other teachers call us by our first names, to avoid confusion, since we are always in the same class and sitting next to each other."

            "Thank you, Sonomi-san, that will be easier," answered Fujitaka.  "Chrys-san, you are welcome to sit in on my class… as long as you pretend to be interested," he joked.

            "Oh, I don't think I'll have any trouble with that," replied Chrys with perfect seriousness.  It was all Sonomi could do not to snort with laughter.

. . . 

            The girls sat in the mall's security office until the guards and the store manager confirmed that the heavily loaded shelving had collapsed because of a broken brace, and not through anything the girls had done.  The store manager then apologized profusely to them; they had to assure him repeatedly that none of the shattered lead crystal had cut any of them and that they were unharmed.  When they were finally allowed to leave, the walked down the echoing corridor until they were out of the range of the guards' hearing.

            "Let's get something to eat," Chrys said, speaking first.  Her eyes looked tired.

            "That," said Sonomi shakily, "was weird."  She gripped Nadeshiko's hand.  "It was like it was just waiting for you to get out of the way."

            "I've been… kind of lucky lately," Nadeshiko said uncertainly.

            "It hasn't been luck," said Chrys, rubbing her brow with her hands, as if her head ached.  "Just Chance, looking out for you."

            "You say that like you're talking about a person," said Sonomi.

            "That's because I am."

            Both Nadeshiko and Sonomi stopped walking.  "What do you mean?" asked Sonomi.

            "Don't you believe in magic, Sonomi?" asked Chrys, fixing her cousin with a direct look.

            The short-haired girl shook her head.  "No," she said.

            "Magic is real," Nadeshiko defended.  "I believe in magic."

            "It _is_ real," Chrys said with seriousness.  "It's all over, if you look for it, waiting for you to notice."

            "We're not children anymore," said Sonomi in an exasperated voice.   "Spells and magic powers are make believe; they're fairytales.  There's no such thing as ghosts or spirits or kitsune or kappa in the park!"  She faced off the wide-eyed look of her dear Nadeshiko and the strangely knowing look of her American cousin.  "I don't believe it."

            "Sonomi," said Chrys.  "We have to talk."

. . . 

            The girls sat in the noisy food park of the mall, Nadeshiko and Sonomi sitting opposite from Chrys across the small plastic table.  Chrys pushed around a cold french fry, coating it in ketchup but not eating it.  "In a couple of days," she said, "I'm going to be hundreds of miles from you guys, across a lot of water.  I don't really know how my power works, but I know I have to be close to you."

            Sonomi sat up sceptically.  "Your power, Kikuu?" she asked, slipping into the childhood form of address to underscore her seriousness.

"Sonomi, I'm telling you this because I think it's important."  She looked at her cousin's unbelieving frown.  "I'm not making this up!  It's bad for me to keep doing this kind of thing, anyway.  Things have to balance out.  Like the fire alarm," she laughed regretfully.  "Remember how I said I was getting a long break because my school caught on fire?  Well that was kind of my fault."  She explained further.  "I influenced the Possibilities to get out of an exam on the last day before break.  I figured we'd just take it when school started again.  A false alarm to take up the class period.  Only… it turned out, the alarm went off because something actually caught fire in a janitor's closet."  She looked sheepishly at Nadeshiko's shocked face.

            "It gets worse,"  Chrys confessed.  "Nade, I kept that car from hitting you at the airport.  I didn't mean to cause that accident; I just got really scared.  And ever since, I've been trying to look out for you.  God, you have to start being more careful," she said earnestly.  "What's going to happen when I'm not here?"

            Nadeshiko sipped at her drink, fidgeting with the straw, her eyes downcast.  Sonomi put her hand over Nadeshiko's curled fingers.  "_I'm_ going to look out for her, just like I always do," Sonomi insisted.

            "How are going to keep her from breaking her arm or falling off a railing or something," asked Chrys tiredly, running her hands through her loose hair.

            Nadeshiko answered.  "I'll be more careful," she said in a small voice.  "I believe you, Chrys."

            The girl sighed, long and slow, and finally gave the battered french fry reprieve.  She wiped the salt off her fingertips.  "I'm not trying to be mean, Nade, really," she said.  

            "I… don't want to believe you," said Sonomi.  "What balances out all the times you've been keeping Nadeshiko safe?"

            "I don't know," said Chrys, looking at the scratched table.  "Maybe it won't be anything bad.  Maybe it will be something bad for me, instead.  I don't know."

. . . 

            "This is it.  Tomorrow, it's back on the plane and home to L.A.," said Chrys.  "Let's find some cherry trees to sit under and contemplate the passing of our youth," she added with a theatrical manner. 

            "They're really pretty on the north side of the school," said Nadeshiko. 

            "Isn't there a convenience store on the way here?" Chrys asked.  "I can go get us some drinks and meet you back here." 

            "There is the grocery store," said Sonomi.  "It's only a few blocks away."

            "I think I remember where it is," said Chrys.  She handed Nadeshiko's bookbag to her short-haired cousin.  "If you'll take these, Sonomi," she said, "I'll be right back."  She waved over her shoulder as she walked away.  "Gotta go spend the rest of my yen or get stuck with it," she added breezily.

            Sonomi and Nadeshiko headed in the opposite direction, toward the cherry tree grove.  They were nearly there, walking through one of the open courtyards, when Nadeshiko veered suddenly into the border of  sycamore trees.  The girl crouched down near the base of one, inspecting a small lump that was almost indistinguishable from the dirt.  Sonomi walked up next to her, concerned when her cousin picked up the fluffy lump.

            "Sonomi, it's a baby bird!" Nadeshiko said with excitement.  "Oh, poor little thing.  He must have fallen out of his nest." She searched upward in the tree's branches.  "I think I see it."  Nadeshiko cupped the tiny creature in one delicate hand and began to climb.  She hoisted herself lightly to an upper branch, and then stepped out to climb even further up, perching herself on a less sturdy tree limb.

            "Come down, Nadeshiko," Sonomi called with exasperation.  "It's dangerous up there!"  She watched the long-haired girl inch out further on the branch, paying no attention to her warning.  "Let Chrys do it when she gets back!  She's at least wearing jeans!"

            "I can do it, Sonomi.  I've climbed trees in a skirt lots of times.  And I'm already almost there," she called down.  She stepped over to an even higher branch, the one whose spreading end cradled a twiggy nest.

            "That's why I'm worrying," Sonomi grumbled, more to herself than to her oblivious cousin.

            Nadeshiko was murmuring soothingly to the little puff of down feathers in her hand.  "Just a little further," she cooed.  "It's okay, little guy."  Carefully, she deposited it among its brethren.  "There you go.  Safe and sound."  She wiggled her way back toward the tree trunk.  Before she was above the spot on the lower branch where she had stood before, she dropped down to the lower branch.  But she had misjudged the strength of her landing spot.  As the tree branch bounced from her minor weight, a wet snap sounded out.

            Sonomi screamed.  "Nadeshiko!"

            Nadeshiko froze, one hand still on the branch above her, the branch with the bird's nest.  "Sonomi?" she called down worriedly.  "I think the branch is breaking."

            "Hurry up and come down," Sonomi fretted.  "Be careful!"

            Nadeshiko started to step toward the trunk, causing more cracking sounds from her perch.  "It's going to break if I move!  What should I do?  I don't want to hurt the tree!"

"Climb down!" yelled Sonomi desperately.

"I don't know if I can!"

Sonomi looked around the courtyard, which was empty now that classes were done for the day; she was hoping for aid of any kind.   "Then jump down!" she pleaded with her cousin.

"It's too far!"

            Her eyes darting, Sonomi saw Chrys finally heading to rejoin their group.  The  girl was jogging casually toward her with the grocery bag, but must have realized Sonomi's agitation, because she began sprinting once the scene came into her view. 

The girl in the tree eased herself down to a crouch, intending to slide down to the next lower branch, and from there climb down more surely.  The tree branch creaked loudly, splintering further.  Nadeshiko was distracted, and misstepped.  Her school shoes did not have enough grip to hold onto the branch's curve.  She grabbed frantically above her at the breaking branch again.  "I'm slipping!"

Sonomi had thought that with Chrys's help, she might have been able to extricate their cousin from her predicament, but when Nadeshiko shouted, Sonomi discarded that hope.  She looked at Chrys, who was still the distance of a building away, and wanted to believe that the girl wasn't delusional about her "abilities".  Because when Nadeshiko hit the ground, she was going to at least break a bone.  From that height, she would probably break several, and her head would hit the ground hard.  Sonomi didn't have any time to debate with herself.  "Do something!" she yelled at Chrys.

Chrys stopped suddenly, breathing heavily.  She looked up at Nadeshiko in the tree, clinging doubtfully, and then she looked up and down the courtyard, and at the windows of the surrounding buildings, as Sonomi had done.  She then turned her focus to Nadeshiko again, and appeared to just be watching the girl.

            The damaged branch split away partially from the trunk, and Nadeshiko, not wanting it to break away completely, let go.  Since she still lacked purchase underfoot, she fell.  Sonomi opened her mouth soundlessly, unable to scream, watching her beloved cousin plummet.   But Nadeshiko did not hit the ground.  Just at that moment, a teacher rounded the corner of the building.  He had no warning of the falling girl; she knocked him to the dirt and landed on top of his sturdy body.

            He took the impact well.  When Sonomi and, a moment later, Chrys, ran up to the heap of teacher and student, they could see that he was unharmed, only winded and a little dirt smudged.  His hair was more tousled than usual, and his glasses were knocked askew.

            "Are you all right?" asked the man.

            "Yes…" Nadeshiko said softly.  "Thank you for catching me, Kinomoto-sensei."

            "Mm," said the teacher.  "It was nothing."  He was staring into the sweet face above him, and Nadeshiko was gazing back with wide, innocent eyes.  "I thought an angel had fallen from the sky," he joked.

. . . 

            Chrys jumped out of the pool to pick up the ringing phone.  She found the handset to the cordless under her terry robe.  "Yeah," she answered it breathlessly.

            Sonomi Amamiya's voice came over the line, with that half-second delay of long distance calls.  "It's your fault!" she accused without preamble.

            Chrys sank down to the wire-framed patio chair.  She braced herself for bad news.  "What is, Sonomi?" she asked.

            "She's going to marry him!  She won't listen to anything I say!"

            "Are you talking about Nadeshiko?" Chrys asked, exhaling with relief.

            The grinding of Sonomi's teeth was audible.  "Yes!  Nadeshiko!  And that pest, Kinomoto-sensei!  So this is your fault!  You make weird things happen!"

Chrys looked up at the blue California sky.  "I didn't make her fall in love with the teacher," she said reasonably.

"How do you know?" Sonomi asked harshly.  "When she fell out of the tree, he's the one that caught her.  Since then, they've only had eyes for each other.  It's always '_Fujitaka-kun this_'and '_Fujitaka-kun that_'.  I can't stand it!  And now she says she's going to marry him."   The last part of her words came over the line with the sound of sniffles. 

            "Sonomi…" said the teenager in soothing tones.

            "_I hate you, _Kikuu," Sonomi spat viciously.

            Chrys heard the hard click of a phone being slammed against its receiver.  The line went dead.  She dialed the number that she knew by heart, and listened to the echoing ringing.  The line rang and rang, but was not picked up.  She hung up, and put the handset down on the glass patio table.  The girl stood up slowly, and stared quietly at the blue-tinted water without seeing it.  And then she walked to the pool's edge, and dived in.

 . . . _ . . ._. . . _. . . 

_Author's note: I took a few liberties… this is Original Character, after all.  Maybe, after nearly 20 years, Sonomi didn't remember things exactly the way they'd happened.  {sigh} And this is all I intend to tell about this story.  It might have worked better as a chapter fic, but since it kind of breaks my heart, I don't really want to re-work it._

_ ~Cris, butterflydreaming~_


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